Humans, vast of the time, are social creatures. People seek opportunities to interact with others and share and experience things together. If they require help or guidance, they go to others first. Regardless of whether they’re feeling either happy or depressed, spending time with someone else either increases happiness or reduces sadness.
Some believe the information age has divided people and broken the once-essential social bonds. MIT faculty member Sherry Turkle is quoted to have said, ” We’re losing the raw, human part of being with each other.” Some assert that technology and the Internet aren’t the cause of social isolation but have merely altered it, bringing new and exciting ways and ways to connect and remain connected.
This perspective could be fascinating for marketers working in the digital age, as it opens up new methods to tap into the social dynamics to communicate messages more effectively than before. We are looking at today how marketers can use social psychology to develop their following strategies.
Groupthink
“Everybody else is doing it so it must be good,” or “everybody else has one, so I want one too.” These phrases are funny when thought of in this way and would likely provoke a reaction of a different kind when viewed in a literal sense; however, it is the reality that many people are victims of groupthink. Daniel Richardson of University College London states, ” When people interact, they end up agreeing, and they make worse decisions – they don’t share information, they share biases.“
This doesn’t mean that marketers shouldn’t be shady and profit from people’s mistakes; however, it is an intriguing opportunity to capitalize on collective thinking to improve the appeal of products. It implies an enormous opportunity to show that people are happy with your offer to increase its appeal. Review and reviews are the primary means of displaying this social approval and relying on groupthink, and it’s surprising how some websites still need to use these types of content. Some have begun to devote whole pages to reviews and to link to them often and eagerly to show their approval of their brands.
Trust
A study published by an organization called the Harvard Business Review found that customers referred to are ” more loyal and more valuable than other customers.” To most people, this makes sense. You likely seek advice from your friends when you plan to purchase something, be it an iPhone or an account at a bank, because you know that they’ve got your interests in mind and will offer solid guidance. Referrals are, therefore, the potential to be highly successful for success, not just when it comes to conversion rates that increase when a person is referred to your company and also profits and loyalty.
Three out of three people say that social media influence their purchasing habits; therefore, why not take the influence of social media and come up with campaigns that can be shared and entertaining? The evidence from previous campaigns suggests that the most successful referral programs reward both parties involved, including the referrer and the referred person ( here’s a case study of how Dropbox achieved this feat of gaining 4 million users within fifteen months.)
Authority
Every time starting with Milgram’s famous study of the analytical data gathered by websites, trust has been proven to be a powerful influencer of people’s decisions. People believe the people they believe to be experts on a particular subject; if they need clarification, they will go to these experts for their opinions.
In the world of digital marketing, you’re unlikely to be able to create an advertisement with an old-fashioned catchy phrase that begins with “9/10 dentists believe’ however you could still leverage the power of authority in influencing customer behaviors and attitudes. Control can be cultivated in various ways, and a few tie in with other subjects of this article, such as referrals. Receiving a referral automatically places you in an authoritative position because people feel that they’re constantly being pointed to authorities. However, you may gain other people’s trust by attracting renowned people to help you with your marketing plan for content via videos or guest blogs.
Gifts
Gift-giving is a custom as old as time, and its advantages in developing relationships are indisputable. Gifts not only make a connection between the gift giver and the recipients, but they also establish a relationship that is one of receiving and giving. Sometimes, businesses find it challenging to offer something to achieve their goals and targets; however, understanding the psychological and social implications of giving gifts can generate more revenue and only require little money.
The whole practice of marketing through content could be founded on gift-giving. It’s about putting information for users to search and then use, and they may engage with you in the future. Thus, digital marketers realize that the easiest way to incentivize potential customers is by providing quality resources like blog posts and electronic books.
It’s interesting. However, it is interesting to look at the findings of research conducted by the University of Toronto that affirms that experience-based gifts are better than gifts. That means there are endless possibilities for marketers to offer their customers beyond content. You could organize an event using VR Chat or a live stream, such as BuzzFeed’s staff dance contest, allowing people to experience something and share the moment.
Fear
The ominous-sounding section concerns something that almost all people experience often: the worry of being left out, or FOMO, as it is commonly referred to. FOMO is the anxiety people feel when they believe they’re missing something inexplicably lost while others enjoy it to the maximum. It’s why people stand in line for three days at an Apple store, and it’s what makes you feel a sense of dread when you hear your friends talk about the event that you’ll have to miss due to another commitment.
Digital marketers could use this idea to influence buyers’ choices by (responsibly) ensuring they are interested in the content, causing them anxiety about missing out. This is possible via content with limited availability, like live streaming or deals and regularly scheduled and easily anticipated range, and by generating straightforward content from users to share via social media. It’s unnecessary to go to that it becomes too invasive or challenging to get back to should someone miss the date.
Bottom Line
While most marketers have experienced and possibly employed these strategies at some point, it’s essential to know why they are presented this way and how they get their power. If we return to their roots and learn the reasons behind these strategies, they not only allow marketers to enhance their efforts more efficiently but open up an array of designs and channels that could be different products that all originate from the same underlying principle.